RE: Relese shooters, ever practice w/o?
 

What would that do to your anchor(s)?

I carry two releases with me afield.

RE: Relese shooters, ever practice w/o?
 

I keep a back up in my pack.

RE: Relese shooters, ever practice w/o?
 

I thought that very same thing the other night when I was thinking about this very same subject in the stand, lol. I'm using my ST-3 for hunting this year, and keep it in my pocket to and from the stand. I was thinking "what if it fell out somewhere in between under some weird circumstance? Could I shoot fingers?" My anchors would be too different, I wouldn't be confident. I suppose it you practiced enough and knew where the different reference points were and how they differed between the release and fingers, then possibly.

RE: Relese shooters, ever practice w/o?
 

No, if I don't have my release then I don't shoot. However, I always keep a back up release that is identical to the one I normally shoot, in my pack.

RE: Relese shooters, ever practice w/o?
 

While finger pinch can be an issue on short axle to axle bows, that is really not the issue as discussed. An arrow shot with fingers out of a bow tuned for a release most likely will not hit anywhere near the same spot. Throw a fixed blade head on there and it is exponentially worse. For me, the impact with fingers will typically fly 2 feet to the right at 20 yards with field points. I hunted with fingers and compounds all my life until about 5 years ago andstill shoot thousands of shots out of my fishing compounds each year and I have pretty good form finger shooting.

Like someone else mentioned, it is the side to side flex of the arrow that occurs with a finger release (even with the very best finger release) that is different than an arrow shot with a mech release. When shot with a release, the arrow flexes very little side to side with some vertical flex. A finger bow will have a rest that is designed to "tame" the arrow down on release with side pressure.

RE: Relese shooters, ever practice w/o?
 

That and the way the string rolls off the fingers on a shoot through rest, can get very sensitive. The rests become the major issue.

It takes practice.

RE: Relese shooters, ever practice w/o?
 

I'm with you MGH....but I use the ST3 as a backup. My go-to is a Carter Just-B-Cuz.

RE: Relese shooters, ever practice w/o?
 

Robin - the resulting hit kind of backs up your explanation (assuming you're right handed). The doe was travelling left to right and he hit her in the front shoulder.

RE: Relese shooters, ever practice w/o?
 

I only hunt with what I practice. I hunt with a release, so I practice with one. I keep an extra in my carry-on just in case of an equiptment malfunction, or if I get clumbsy and drop it from the stand. I have found that it's good to keep several extra itemswith you (peep, release, serving string, tubing, etc.) as well as some basic easy to carry tools just in case an in the field repair is necessary.